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Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Wow, it has been since October when I last blogged! I promised I would blog more often and I haven't. Just like riding and falling off a bicycle, it is important to pick oneself up and do it again. So, I'm picking myself up, warming my keyboarding fingers up, and blogging today!

Today's post is timely and speaks not only to my heart as a citizen of the United States of America, but also as a teacher-librarian.

I was incredibly touched and moved by last night's moment when President Trump acknowledged and honored fallen Navy SEAL Ryan Owens and his wife.

I got emotional watching that moment. It not only represented Ryan and his wife and the heartache, but it also represented all those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice to serve and fight for our country. It was during that moment that I thought of and remembered fallen Navy SEAL Jon Tumilson (a close family friend of ours and my two sons, ages 5 and 7, admire and look up to), Chris Kyle, Marcus Lutrell, Morgan Lutrell, Boss (Navy SEAL and close friend of the Tumilsons whose daughter, Amelie, is fighting a huge battle against huge battle against Pineoblastoma brain cancer), Iowa National Guard Transportation Company 1133rd (local people that I am honored to know and be friends with), all their families, and many more who have served or are serving and fighting for our country.

My boys visiting Jon Tumilson on August 6, 2016.

Last week and this week (Wednesday, February 22, Thursday, February 23, and Monday, February 27), I had the honor and privilege of collaborating and co-teaching about fake news and credible resources with JAMS 8th grade English Language Arts (ELA) teachers Stephanie Heft Scholl, Ashley Graf, Kelly Penn, and Robin Wagner and their students. Those 3 days were filled with lots of insightful discussion between the students and us, the teachers. It was a great lesson that left me feeling hopeful, inspired, and fulfilled at the end of each day!

Pictures of Mrs. Scholl's ELA Class in Action Taking A Live Poll To Indicate Where They Get Their News

Mrs. Scholl's ELA Class Working in Groups to Determine Fake or Credible Websites

Mrs. Graf's ELA Classes in Action Working Together to Determine Fake or Credible News Articles

Mrs. Penn's Class in Action Working in Groups to Determine Fake or Credible News Articles

Now, Let's Fast Forward to Today...

Today, as I scrolled through my Facebook feed, I came across the following from Snopes. This particular article by Snopes is timely as I immediately thought about how it connects to the lesson I recently taught to John Adams Middle School 8th graders about fake news and credible sources. I shared this particular Snopes article with the teachers mentioned above, as a follow-up and teachable moment. I am hopeful that they will share this with students to gain another real world connection between current events and credible sources.

Last night's moment of honoring fallen Navy SEAL Ryan Owens and his wife, and the media headlines that have since followed, all show why it is important to check facts before making declared statements and opinions.

Please understand that I do not want any controversy or negative feedback over this particular blog post. I am not writing this blog post to indicate my preference for a specific political party or to side with one version of the story or another. I just want to share in the heartfelt sentiments of honoring those who have served, or are serving, our country and have paid the ultimate sacrifice, as well as shed light on fake news and credible sources, and what we must do as consumers of that information.

We have more access to information, than ever before, and we can access it so fast, as it is right there with the snap of our fingers. I will end with this: The JAMS ELA teachers and I both emphasized to students that it is our job, more than ever, to edit and filter news and information shared from media. We no longer have editors filter that information, so it is up to us to filter and edit.

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Oh my goodness! Its been awhile since I've blogged, but I'm back to blogging with a positive attitude and commitment to consistently blog, and to focus on celebrating the amazing things going on in Mason City CSD as well as in the school library world!

I admit it was hard to start this blog post. I've beaten myself up mentally many times about not blogging consistently. Heck, check out my blog post from a year ago, where I talk about this same exact thing! Sometimes I get stuck mentally on what I haven't done or accomplished, which is challenging for me to get past that mental block and start back up again.

Throughout the years, I've learned from family, friends, teachers, coaches, and even students, that all it takes is to get back into the starting blocks and move forward, so that is what I'm doing with this blog post; in the starting blocks and moving forward! My fellow teacher-librarian friends have also taught me in the past year that a blog post can be as something as simple as sharing a picture, or two, or more. So, my blog posts may be just pictures. No matter what my choice of delivering format is, the most important thing is to share and celebrate Mason City CSD and the school library world.

Usain Bolt inspired us to get out of the starting blocks and run our race during the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio!

The 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio was filled with inspiration, life stories, and personal testaments of what it takes to overcome challenges and be successful at earning a gold, silver, or bronze medalist, let alone be an Olympian athlete. I am using the 2016 Summer Olympics as an inspiration for me in many aspects of my life; specifically as a teacher-librarian who serves the Mason City CSD in grades K-12. So, I plan on blogging with commitment and consistency to share the incredible things happening in the Mason City CSD K-12 school library program, as well as what is happening in the world of teacher-librarians. I want this year's blog posts to serve as inspiration and celebration, just as the 2016 Summer Olympics did for many of us! Let the blogging begin!

Thursday, October 1, 2015

I can't believe it is the 1st day of October! September sure flew by fast! It goes to show that "time flies when you are having a good time!" The K-12 school libraries in Mason City CSD definitely had "good times" in September!

Thanks to the awe-inspiring, and the newly retired, teacher-librarian, Kathy Kaldenberg (formerly of Solon CSD), she has always encouraged teacher-librarians, colleagues, friends, family, Twitter world, etc. to "share what may be obvious to you, but amazing to others." Kathy's mantra of "share what may be obvious to you, but is amazing to others" is inspired by the following tweet and video.

Last school year, over this summer, and even at the start of this school year, I've been mentally beating myself up that I haven't blogged like I want to! So, at this time, I am going to declare that I will make an extra effort to blog from now on.

I want to share and celebrate special moments and events that are happening in the Mason City CSD school libraries. My intentions of blogging is not to brag, but to share, inspire, and pass on special moments and events. You never know what could spark or inspire something in your world.

Well, September flew by, and I didn't blog. While I can't rewind time to write an individual blog post for every amazing thing that happened last school year, and more importantly, for the month of September across the K-12 Mason City CSD school libraries, I can review and celebrate the month of September in this blog post!

I lot of amazing things are happening in all of our schools and school libraries, but I can't be everywhere and wasn't able to "lead" in every building in September. The following are highlights on how I was able to "lead" in certain buildings within our district in the month of September.

Harding Elementary

Teacher Painting Class

I've been a part of Harding Elementary for eight years. While I wasn't able to collaborate with Harding staff and students during the month of September, I know there are plenty of opportunities awaiting!

I do want to highlight that I had the honor of participating in a painting class with Harding staff in August. I want to share pictures of our fun evening as it illustrates the value and importance of spending time with colleagues outside the work environment.

Hoover Elementary

IC Checkout and Familiar Faces

Nothing is more fulfilling than watching students check out books and enjoy them, right in the IC.

This is my first year at Hoover, so when I see former students from Harding and Jefferson I am excited to see them.

Hoover Book Fair

On Thursday, September 17, Hoover Elementary had their annual Back-to-School Night, which also meant it was Book Fair too! We had a fabulous turnout! Unfortunately, I was so busy that I didn't take the time to capture the incredible night in pictures!

Due to the generosity of many, we made close to $4,000 which results in us being able to add a lot of incredibly, amazing books to our school library! Your generosity allows us to select the latest, greatest, hottest reads for all grade levels, that support both an enjoyment of reading for pleasure and to support learning and classrooms. We know that our Hoover students will enjoy reading the many new books that have become part of our treasured collection!

An extra special thank you goes to Hoover teachers, IC para Janelle Bothwell, Hoover custodians, Hoover PTO, and a parent volunteer (this mom is a parent of former Hoover students). Thank you to the Hoover teachers who took time to set-up and pack up the bookfair! Thank you to IC para Janelle Bothwell for helping with all the behind-the-scenes prep work as well as also setting up the bookfair, running the bookfair registers, and packing up the bookfair! Thank you to Hoover PTO for purchasing a book for each classroom teacher! Thank you to the mom for her huge help at the registers as well as maintaining the bookfair products and appearance! Thank you to Principal Barb Wells for her support in various forms; behind-the-scenes prep work, management of teacher volunteers, pizza dinner for the teacher volunteers, and more! The HooverBookFair was a success thanks to these people! I couldn't have done it without these people!

Roosevelt Elementary

Keyboarding with Ms. Hunter and her 4th grade students.

During the first week of school, I made sure to be visible at each of the eight buildings. I was lucky and happy to be at the right place at the right time, when Ms. Hunter and her 4th grade students came to the computer lab, and didn't know what to do. Of course, I am going to promote keyboarding! First, the students and I learned the home row keys in a whole class discussion. Then, I let the students try out the first lesson in Dance Mat Typing.

I LOVE International Dot Day! It happens around September 15ish. While, I wanted to celebrate it this school year in a huge way (district-wide), the reality was that I couldn't make it happen this year. Thankfully this special day is every year, so I can plan and celebrate it with a big "mark" next year!

To celebrate International Dot Day, Mr. Ausborn and his students read "The Dot" by Peter H. Reynolds to his students prior to the Skype connection.

Mr. Ausborn then had his students color a dot from the augmented reality app called Quiver. The dot can be scanned with Quiver to bring them to life in 3D form.

During our Skype connection, students from Mr. Ausborn's class and the students from Solon took turns sharing the dots they colored.

The "oohs" and "aahs" exchanged by both classes was absolutely priceless!

The best part was seeing each student's face light up when the other class would "ooh" and "ahh" over his/her individual artwork!

Following the sharing of dots, the students took turns asking each other questions.

On a side note, the question and answer time brings such a rich discussion of the differences between the students' different worlds. While this connection was right here in Iowa, both classes discovered that some things are different and some things are the same.

After the Skype connection ended, Mr. Ausborn and his students used the augmented reality app called Quiver to bring their dots to life in 3D form. I wished I would have taken a video of the students' reactions when they saw each dot come to life in 3D form!

This special time was definitely a great reminder that Dot Day is an absolute must celebrate event every school year! I can't wait to make it bigger and better next year!

Alphabet and Technology with Mrs. Kraft

Kindergarten students arrive to school, full of excitement and different experiences with technology and letter name awareness.

Principal Tom Novotney and Associate Principal Teresa Schlicting asked me to give a presentation on social media, in particular Twitter, to staff during beginning of the school year professional development.

I loved sharing what Twitter can offer and giving credit to Twitter and my PLN for being where I am today as a teacher-librarian!

The Mason City Alternative High School is in a separate building on the 7-12 campus complex, and hasn't received any services from the library.

On August 21, I presented to 7-12 administrators about what the library program will look like this school year. A side note, on August 19, I presented to K-4 administrators about the same thing.

During that August 21st presentation, Principal Dave Cicetti spoke up throughout the presentation on how he can also see me work with his staff and students.

Through an exchange of emails, Mr. Cicetti and I scheduled me to present to his staff on Tuesday, September 18.

I presented about services I can offer his staff and students.

Such as...

Book Talks

Check out books

Digital Citizenship and Digital Footprint

Using, implementing, and integrating technology

I don't have pictures that captured our first meeting, but I wanted to share my excitement for this new endeavor that the school district hasn't ever attempted!

While we are in the early planning stages, I am excited to continue to work with the Alternative High School. I definitely see lots of potential and amazing things to come from the Alternative High School.

Obviously, lots of great things happened across the K-12 school libraries in Mason City in September. Hopefully you discovered September's happenings to be inspiring!

I am excited that there is still plenty of school year ahead of us so endless opportunities await to "lead" various buildings within Mason City CSD!

Stay tuned for more updates on what is happening in the K-12 school libraries in Mason City CSD!